Stearns to borrow $9.9 million for projects

Brittany Opatz, Waconia, won the Lake Wobegon Trail Marathon in St. Joseph May 11. Stearns County plans to borrow to improve the trail as part of a larger plan.(Photo: Times photo by Jason Wachter, jwachter@stcloudtimes.com)

Stearns County commissioners have approved a borrowing and spending plan that includes money for road construction, replacing aging roofs on downtown St. Cloud buildings and repairing the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail in the next five years.

The county board on Tuesday approved the capital improvement plan, which outlines $77.9 million in building and improvement projects through 2018. About $9.9 million of that amount will come from county-issued bonds. Federal and state funding will provide the remainder.

The plan includes $2.92 million in bonding for buildings improvements, $978,000 for parks and trails and $6 million for resurfacing roads and replacing aging bridges.

Some of the projects include:

* Resurfacing two county parking lots in downtown St. Cloud, one west of the Court Facilities building and one east of the post office.

* New roofs on County Administration Center, Court Facilities and Courthouse in downtown St. Cloud.

* Upgrading the dispatch center consoles and towers to meet federal requirements and increase signals in western Stearns County, with help from a state grant.

* Remodeling the 22-year-old Administration Center in downtown St. Cloud and replacing the rooftop air units.

* Restoring the Lake Wobegon Regional Trail throughout the county and installing new toilets at Mississippi River County Park and Quarry Park and Nature Preserve.

The bonding will pay for repairing cracks and bubbles in the surface of the 15-year-old Lake Wobegon trail. An uneven trail surface can be a safety hazard for bicyclists, walkers and in-line skaters.

Commissioner Mark Bromenschenkel said trail maintenance should be included in the parks department's annual budget.

"There has been no planning for that up to this point," he said.

Including the Lake Wobegon trail repairs this year would have spiked the parks department's budget by 20 or 30 percent, said Steve Hammes, assistant to the county administrator. Some dollars for maintenance are included in the park budget every year, but the county needs to play catch up, he said.

"Because we have such a large need right now, it's something that because of the sheer size and impact on their levy, we need to do this as a debt service item," Hammes said.